


Episode Seven-The Smiling Knight

by TeamGwenee



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Lost Episode, Post canon, Script Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-19 03:17:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19967170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeamGwenee/pseuds/TeamGwenee
Summary: Script Format.Hidden away in the new Hand's chambers,  Jaime Lannister has a choice to make.





	Episode Seven-The Smiling Knight

ACT I, SCENE 1

TYRION’S CHAMBERS. THERE IS A MIDDLE-SIZED BED, A WINDOW, A DESK, SOME CHAIRS AND A FIREPLACE. JAIME IS LYING ON A NARROW BED WHICH IS CUT OFF FROM THE REST OF THE ROOM BY A SCREEN. HIS SKIN IS YELLOW, HIS EYES ARE RED AND HAVE DEEP HEAVY RINGS UNDERNEATH. HE IS COVERED IN SWEAT AND HIS BREATHING IS RASPY. WE HEAR MUFFLED TALKING. TYRION THANKS SOMEONE AND A DOOR IS SHUT. TYRION OPENS THE SCREEN SLIGHTLY TO TALK TO JAIME. HE IS CARRYING A BOOK AND A VIAL. HE LOOKS CLEAN BUT HAGGARD.

TYRION: Not the most spacious of accommodations I am afraid, but an improvement I am sure you will agree.

JAIME: EYES SHUT, HIS VOICE IS SLURRED You should have left me in the rubble.

TYRION: You can thank your loyal soldiers for that. They carried you off and got you to the cells. Dreadful places, but the wonderful thing about the Black cells is just how _black_ they are. Ironically, they are the perfect place to avoid imprisonment, as one or two Lannister loyalists will tell you.

JAIME: Why did you let me them?

TYRION: Because I wanted you to live.

JAIME: If you wanted me to live, you would have sent me back North.

TYRION IS SILENT FOR A MOMENT: I wanted Cersei to live as well.

JAIME: Why?

TYRION: I don't know. Perhaps because I so desperately did not want to be the monster she always said I was. All throughout our childhood. And there were times I would look at her, at what she had done and what she had become, and I wondered if she would have been the same woman if she had a mother to raise her.

JAIME: If she had been the son to inherit, not the daughter to sell.

TYRION: Probably not, but still...you can't help but wonder.

JAIME REMAINS SILENT. TYRION SHOWS HIM THE VIAL.

TYRION: I have been raiding Qyburn’s stores. Say what you will about the man, but he was meticulously organised. Did not help in the end, of course, but even so.

JAIME: What is that?

TYRION REMOVES JAIME SHEETS AND BANDAGES TO REVEAL A HIGHLY INFECTED LEG WOUND. IT’S BLACK AND GROSS. THERE IS A TOURNIQUET TIED TIGHTLY AROUND AND PARTS OF IT IS BURNT FROM WHEN IT HAS BEEN HASTILY CAUTERIZED.

TYRION: It should see off the infection in your leg. Hold it at bay as it were, but only for a time. We need to find a Maester who can-

JAIME: No.

TYRION: The corruption can only be treated for a time. Days, a week at most-

JAIME: That’s more time than I asked for.

JAIME CLOSES HIS EYES. TYRION HESITATES.

TYRION: Ser Brienne has come, with her lady.

JAIME’S EYES OPEN. TYRION BEGINS APPLYING THE MEDICINE TO HIS WOUNDS. IT MAKES A SIZZLING SOUND.

TYRION: She received word of your death, same as everyone else.

JAIME: Did you see…have you….how is she?

TYRION GIVES JAIME A _LOOK._

TYRION: Inscrutable. She offered me her condolences but aside from that I could little tell how she was feeling.

JAIME: Did you see her chin?

TYRION: I’m sorry.

JAIME: Her chin? Did it move?

TYRION: Well, we were talking so-

JAIME: Did it wobble?

TYRION: Did it _wobble?_ Yes, I suppose there may have been some…wobbling.

JAIME: She mourns me then. I can’t think why.

TYRION: I can’t think why either, but she has young Podrick with her and is soldiering on, as can be expected. If she does grieve you it has not destroyed her. Although I suspect serving Lady Sansa has lost its shine since your death.

JAIME: Why, how so?

TYRION: Lady; sorry, Queen Sansa did not care for how openly her sworn sword mourned the death of a Lannister, and Ser Brienne did not care for how openly she rejoiced.

JAIME: Sansa rejoiced at my death?

TYRION: She has no reason not to.

JAIME: She does if it’s before Brienne. She has an entire nation who would celebrate beside her, but for the one person to whom she owes everything could she not hold her tongue?

TYRION: Well, it is of little matter now. Ser Brienne is to remain here, as Kingsguard to Bran the Broken.

JAIME: Kingsguard? Does she not deserve better than that?

TYRION: The Kingsguard; like the rest of the kingdom, will be seeing reforms. No longer will the knights serve at the expense of their former vows, nor for life and…other changes have been made as well.

JAIME: And Brienne will lead them? Sounds about right.

TYRION: Do you want me to bring her?

JAIME: QUICKLY No.

TYRION: She would want to-

JAIME: She has already lost me twice over. She would have mourned me deserting her and mourned again on my death. It would be cruel to make her grieve for me a third time.

TYRION: You may live.

JAIME: You and I know how likely that is.

TYRION: Do you really want your last memory of her to be of you abandoning her in the courtyard?

JAIME: No.

TYRION: Well then-

JAIME: Don’t tell her. Just, just bring her here. I can watch her through my screen. Tell a joke, make her laugh. You were always good at jokes. Let me see the two of you smiling together and that will be the image I take with me.

TYRION NODS.

#

ACT I, SCENE II

JAIME IS PRECARIOUSLY EATING A BOWL OF BROTH. THE SCREEN IS PULLED AJAR EVER SO SLIGHTLY. CAN HEAR THE DOOR OPEN. WE HEAR TYRION AND BRIENNE’S VOICES.

TYRION: Thank you for coming so promptly, I understand you have much to fill your time.

BRIENNE: As have we all.

JAIME STILLS.

JAIME: UNDER HIS BREATH Brienne.

HE PUTS THE BROTH TO ONE SIDE AND SITS UP, LOOKING THROUGH THE GAP. HE CAREFULLY PLACES HIS HAND ON THE SCREEN.

TYRION: And you have brought the book? Excellent.

BRIENNE: I am surprised you wished to see it.

TYRION: What? The glorious and gruesome history of the Kingsguard? It is probably one of the most valuable books in the realm, how could I not wish to see it?

BRIENNE: And I suppose it was so very impossible for you to come and see it in the White Tower for yourself?

TYRION: The stairs are so very long, and my legs are so very short.

BRIENNE PLACES THE BOOK ON THE TABLE.

BRIENNE: Do you intend to use being a dwarf to avoid every minor inconvenience in your life?

JAIME CHUCKLES QUIETLY FROM BEHIND THE SCREEN. HE WATCHES AS WE HEAR TYRION TURN THE PAGES AND READ SEVERAL BRIEF EXTRACTS.

TYRION: And here, Ser Jaime Lannister. You completed his page I see.

BRIENNE’S CHIN WOBBLES.

BRIENNE: Yes, my lord.

TYRION: _"Took Rivverrun from the Tully revels, without loss of life. Lured the Unsullied into attacking Casterly Rock, sacrificing his childhood home in service to a greater strategy. Outwitted the Targaryen forces to seize Highgarden. Fought at the Battle of the Goldroad bravely, narrowly escaping death by dragonfire. Pledged himself to the forces of men and rode north to join them at Winterfell, alone."_

JAIME LISTENS, TEARS TRACKING DOWN HIS CHEEKS.

TYRION: _"Faced the Army of the Dead and defended the castle against impossible odds until the defeat of the Night King. Escaped imprisonment and rode south in an attempt to save the capital from destruction. Died protecting his Queen."_

TYRION CLOSES THE BOOK.

TYRION: After the Long Night, neither Stark nor Targaryen cared enough to see my brother dead. The realm was content to let him live. At the end it was only he who thought himself undeserving.

BRIENNE: At least the realm will now see his honour, even if he himself could not.

BRIENNE TEARS UP SLIGHTLY. JAIME SCOWLS AS HE WATCHES HER.

JAIME: Damn you Tyrion.

TYRION PLACES A HAND ON BRIENNE’S ARM.

TYRION: I hope you know, that no matter how things ended between you, he loved you dearly.

BRIENNE: As you say my Lord.

BRIENNE BOWS AND LEAVES. TYRION LISTENS AS HER FOOTSTEPS DIE AWAY, BEFORE MOVING TOWARDS THE SCREEN AND OPENING IT.

JAIME: Summon the Maester.

TYRION: What?

JAIME: I told you to make her laugh and you make her weep. If I want to see her smile then clearly, I shall have to do so myself, and I cannot do that with a half rotting leg. Summon the Maester.

#

ACT I, SCENE III

JAIME IS STRAPPED TO A TABLE. SAMWELL IS EXAMINING JAIME’S LEG. BEHIND HIM ON A TABLE ARE NUMEROUS MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS. TYRION IS STOOD BEHIND, WATCHING HIM ANXIOUSLY.

SAMWELL: The infection has spread quite severely. Everything below the knee will have to be removed.

SAMWELL PASSES JAIME A LARGE CUP.

SAMWELL: The dosage is strong, but you will need to drink all of it if you wish to sleep through.

JAIME: And if I don’t want to sleep through it?

SAMWELL: Considering the trauma your body has already undergone, the severity of the pain could very well kill you.

JAIME: And I am supposed to take your word for it? You don’t even have your chain.

SAMWELL: Excuse me, but it was I who successfully cured Ser Jorah Mormont of Greyscale using a particularly difficult and dangerous method. I think I can safely hack off a limb.

SAMWELL TURNS AROUND AND BEGINS SORTING THROUGH HIS INSTRUMENTS

JAIME: Ahh yes, Ser Jorah Mormont. A shame he died barely a year later and put all your good work to waste.

SAMWELL: Yes, well, death has to comes for all of us eventually, doesn’t it?

SAMWELL TURNS AROUND, SMILING AND HOLDING UP A VERY BIG SAW.

#

ACT I, SCENE IV

JAIME IS SAT PROPPED UP IN HIS BED. HIS COLOUR IS HEALTHIER AND THE STUMP ON HIS LEG IS WRAPPED IN CLEAN WHITE BANDAGES AND HELD ALOFT ON A PILE OF CUSHIONS. THE SCREEN IS OPEN. WE CAN HEAR THE WIND AND THE WAVES FROM AN OPEN WINDOW. TYRION IS SAT AT HIS DESK, SORTING THROUGH THE ACCOUNTS, GRUMBLING TO HIMSELF.

JAIME: Either talk properly or shut up completely. Muttering is just rude.

TYRION: Apologies dear brother. I shall try to keep the king’s work from inconveniencing you any longer.

JAIME: See that you do. HE PAUSES. Has the king truly not said anything about my being alive?

TYRION: Truly.

JAIME: But he must know.

TYRION: if he does, it’s of little matter to him. You may have changed his life and brought much suffering into his world, but you are only the first of many who did, so I suspect you are of little significance to him at this point. Does that make you feel slighted?

JAIME: It makes me feel grief for the boy.

TYRION RETURNS TO HIS ACCOUNTS.

JAIME: Still squabbling over dominion of the Iron Islands? Or is it Dorne that you’re pouting over?

TYRION: Neither. I reminded Lady Yara that the Iron Islands have long been considered Northern territories and it is Queen Sansa with whom she must raise the issue with.

JAIME: Really?

TYRION: Well, they _are_ in the North. Keeping them would bring us more trouble than they are worth. This way we can give them up, whilst appearing to have lost nothing.

JAIME: And King Bran is content with his homeland being thrown under the cart?

TYRION: At Queen Sansa’s insistence, the North is an independent kingdom and its welfare rests upon her shoulders. I am sure she and Yara Greyjoy will soon reach an accord. I don’t believe Sansa particularly wants the Iron Islands, and Yara Greyjoy’s brother died defending Winterfell. The two ladies can bond over their grief. Theon Greyjoy was brought to Winterfell to keep the peace between the Iron Islands and the North, and now his death can achieve just that. It is quite sweet really, like a song. ‘Theon the c-‘

JAIME: No.

TYRION: I beg your pardon.

JAIME: We made it this long without you making a cock joke, try not to ruin it now.

TYRION: If you insist.

And whilst Queen Sansa is occupied with the Iron Islanders, I can set about putting down roots and making matches in the Riverlands.

As for Dorne, we have agreed to its independence. They fought harder for it through the years than any other kingdom, and only entered into the realm through marriage. Their Princess near died delivering Prince Rhaegar his children, who thanked her by dishonouring her before the world and leaving her on Dragonstone at the whims of his mad father, so that he could start a war from in-between Lady Lyanna Stark’s legs. I feel I can little begrudge them their independence after all that, can you?

JAIME: You do not fear that other kingdoms may follow suit?

TYRION: Lord Gendry is a stranger to the Stormlands. If he is to keep his seat, he knows he needs our support. I’ve dangled a juicy prize or two before young Lord Arryn, so he shall be wed to us before Queen Sansa thinks to snap him up for herself. And as for those in the Reach who are still contentious of Lord Blackwater’s appointment, I have made the wording in our agreement with Dorne very clear. They have accepted certain disputed lands North of the Marches belong to the Seven Kingdoms and will do so for as long as the Reach remains under our domain.

JAIME: And the moment the Reach declares its independence-

TYRION: Dorne declares war and seeks to claim them for themselves.

JAIME: So what are you scowling about over there then, if you have settled the kingdom’s troubles so efficiently?

TYRION: Accounts. Wretched things. Cersei emptied the treasury on an army of elephants that never came, and we are once more in debt to the Iron Bank. Not only that, but there are some crucial reforms to be made, several of which require a great deal of gold.

JAIME: Is now the best time to be frittering money away on reforms when the kingdom needs rebuilding?

TYRION: My dear brother, now is the best time to do exactly that. We have no choice but to start again, and with that brings us the chance to build a new Westeros. Schools for the smallfolk, homes to care for the weak, pensions for the elderly, and compensation for the thousands whose lives have been destroyed in the wars. All of it vital for the world we wish to create, and all of it very expensive. Add to this the training and wages of healers and teachers and midwives and the People’s Guard-

JAIME: People’s Guard?

TYRION: In place of the Gold Cloaks. To be stationed in every town, city village and port of every kingdom. They shall serve no lord but instead to answer directly to the Crown. A force of men and woman dedicating their lives to justice and peace.

JAIME: Women?

TYRION: Women. Quite a few of the new laws being put through are for their benefit, and we expect quite a few to be met with considerable opposition. For example, hundreds of years ago the good King Jahaerys banished the Lord’s Right on the grounds that a woman’s body belonged to her father until marriage, on which point it became the property of her husband. We have gone one radical step further and decided that the bodies of women should in fact belong…. to _women_. Ser Brienne proposed that laws for the protection of women would be best upheld if women played a role in their enforcement. The integration of women into the People’s Guard has become rather dear to her.

JAIME SMILES AT THE THOUGHT OF BRIENE BEING A BADASS

JAIME: I am sure it has.

TYRION: So, I am certain you will forgive me if my work has caused you any difficulties.

JAIME: Have you thought of selling the dragons?

TYRION: Dragons? Drogon is missing; last seen on the path to Asshai, Viserion remains in the North and we lack the resources to bring Rhaegal from the sea.

JAIME: The dragon _skulls._ The ones in the bowels of the Red Keep. They have not yet turned to dust. Surely some obscenely rich merchant from Pentos would happily pay off our debts and see us fed through the winter if it means laying claim to the skull of Balerion the Black dread.

TYRION LAYS DOWN HIS QUILL.

TYRION: And father always said you were the stupidest Lannister!

JAIME: No, that was Cersei.

TYRION: Her as well? And I thought you were the favourite. You know what I think, I think you got so used to gliding along on your sword you forgot you had brains. But then you lose a hand, you take Riverrun without a drop of blood spilled and pluck Highgarden from under my nose. Now you lose half a leg, and you restore the Kingdom’s treasury!

TYRION STANDS AND MOVES TOWARDS THE DOOR.

TYRION: Well, I had best go and tell the Council the good news.

TYRION TURNS TO FACE JAIME.

TYRION: Unless you wish to do so yourself?

JAIME: I’m not ready.

TYRION: Lady Brienne is only going to be more furious the longer we lie to her. And I don’t think poor Samwell Tarly is going to be able to keep up the deception for much longer. Every time she enters the room he squeals and flees like a piglet. She has to find out, and for her to find out through hearing your plan to fill the treasury may well ease the sting.

JAIME IS WHITE FACED, BUT BEGRUDGINGLY CLOSES HIS EYES, GRITS HIS TEETH AND NODS HIS HEAD.

#

ACT I, SCENE V

THE SCREEN IS PUSHED ENTIRELY TO ONE SIDE. THE DOOR AND WINDOWS ARE OPEN. WE CAN HEAR THE SEA AND BRIGHT TALK FROM OUTSIDE. THE SUN IS STREAMING IN. BRIENNE IS SAT BY JAIME’S BED, STARING AT HIM. TYRION STANDS BY THE DOOR, READY TO FLEE IF THINGS TURN VIOLENT.

BRIENNE: Why haven’t I been told before now?

JAIME: I didn’t want you to see me like this. Now I truly am a cripple. I didn’t want you to think less of me.

BRIENNE: Jaime, when the infection from your hand set in and you were vomiting up nearly everything you swallowed, and what you didn’t vomit came spurting out of your rear instead, I was the one who cleaned you up. On both ends. I didn’t think of you less then, and this

BRIENNE GESTURES TO HIS LEG

BRIENNE: certainly won’t make me think less of you now. You insult me by suggesting it would.

JAIME: I’m sorry.

BRIENNE: That you acted as though you cared for me, laid with me, made a future with me, abandoned me and then let me grieve over your death for months, that does make me think less of you.

JAIME: The chances were I would die. I did not wish to bring you anymore grief.

BRIENNE: Considering the wretched decisions you made for your own life thus far, you have no right to make decisions for mine.

TYRION: I’m afraid have to agree with Ser Brienne on that point Jaime.

BRIENNE: Don’t think I will not be dealing with you later.

TYRION: Perhaps I should go.

TYRION LEAVES. WE HEAR HIS FOOTSTEPS QUICKENING AS HE BEGINS TO RUN AWAY FROM THE ANGRY LADY KNIGHT.

JAIME: Brienne-

BRIENNE: Why did you go back to her? We never lied to each other before, that’s not who we are. When you told me you wanted a life with me, I believed you then and I believe you now, despite the world telling me I was a fool for doing so. You meant those words.

JAIME: I did.

BRIENNE: Then why did you go back?

JAIME: It’s not-

BRIENNE: Tell me. Tell me and be honest or I am done with you.

JAIME HESITATES

JAIME: Even as the very sight of Cersei began to disgust me, I told myself there was no reason for to me to judge her for we were the same. We were the same. And I shouldn’t think to ask for better.

There was a time when Cersei was all that kept me standing. Every second I spent serving the Mad King, I thought of her. Every time I heard Kingslayer whispered behind my back, I thought of her. I told myself that as long as I stayed loyal to her, there was _some_ honour in me. And all that scorn, all that disgust, all the Barristan Selmys and Ned Starks of the world were wrong. 

Then for a moment, I thought there was a chance to lead a different life. A chance to be happy, with you.

I left, never out of a lack of love for you. Far from it. I never thought it possible for me to find a love other than Cersei. My life was for Cersei. The more I grew to love you, the more I had to accept that the stone I had built my life on was sand. And I was too scared to accept that. Too scared to accept that Cersei could die and I could be happy, with someone else. That the love that I had given my life to was nothing, that I was not the Warrior fighting for the Maiden, but a handless old knight who fucked his sister. 

I rode to my death, because I was too cowardly to live.

BRIENNE TURNS HER FACE FROM HIM.

BRIENNE: And what do you intend to do now?

JAIME: I don’t know. Not long ago I planned to do nothing but let my leg kill me. I have only just accepted the fact that I do want to live.

BRIENNE: Even without Cersei?

JAIME: Even without Cersei.

BRIENNE REFUSES TO FACE HIM.

JAIME: And with you, if there is a chance.

BRIENNE: You know my life, my life I have been told what to expect from men and what a woman like me was owed. I was told I should let my father marry me off to what desperate, toothless lordling he could find and breed his heirs with a smile on my face. I should spread my legs for any knight who preferred me to his horse and be grateful for it. But I never accepted that. No matter how much armour I wore there was a part of me that still hoped, that still thought I deserved to be loved. Then you turned your back on me and you rode away.

JAIME: Did I…did I take that hope from you?

BRIENNE: No, you made a very good attempt at it. But no. I haven’t remained standing this long without having some faith in myself. If anything, I have learnt I had more faith in my worth than even I knew. I let you in, I dared to hope and when you rode away, I knew I had been wronged. And that I was owed more. I knew that love was something I wanted, and it was something I deserved.

BRIENNE GRIMACES, ALMOST AS THOUGH SHE IS REGRETTING THESE NEXT WORDS.

BRIENNE: And I want it with you.

JAIME LEANS FORWARD TO KISS HER, BUT BRIENNE BACKS AWAY.

BRIENNE: I want you, but I’m not ready just yet. You will have to wait a while.

JAIME RELUCTANTLY MOVES BACK AND NODS.

JAIME: As you will.

BRIENNE CAUTIOUSLY KISSES HIM ON THE FOREHEAD AND STANDS.

BRIENNE: I’m very pleased you’re not dead.

SHE TURNS TO LEAVE. JAIME WATCHES HER, SMILING.

#

ACT I, SCENE V

JAIME IS TRYING TO STAND. HE HAS A METAL LEG. BRIENNE IS HELPING HIM DRESS AND TO STAND AS TYRION WATCHES.

BRIENNE: Are you ready?

JAIME: Not in the slightest.

JAIME TRIES TO MOVE FORWARD AND FALTERS. BRIENNE PUTS HER HAND ON THE SMALL OF HIS BACK GENTLY AND STEPS BEFORE HIM. BRIENNE AND JAIME MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE DOOR. TYRION WATCHES THEM, SMILING, AND FOLLOWS BEHIND.


End file.
